Friday, September 30, 2011

I love the blue and silver combination when painting two-tone. I also like yellow and black very much.So these two figures were being painted and I thought to myself... they HAVE to be sisters, so when I post them on etsy, they are going to be in a listing together. Perhaps we will call them Sherree and Sherryl. :-p

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Hitching a ride on the subject of the last blog are these four new figures. Kitsch, camp, folk, yes they are all of these. Frivolous subject matter, naive aesthetic?Perhaps, but the flowers are abundant and the figures lovely. Love and abundance are really the things that are best to focus on in our lives as what we focus on multiplies (this includes problems so remember that!) I may eat these words one day, but I will never do "serious art" or anything political. I love my version of kitsch, If a figure is monochromatic its because I felt she looked better that way, not because I am trying to be a "serious" artist, what does that really mean anyway? If anything I'm a fun artist and this is reflected in the works, no matter their size, style, or subject matter.

So, onto the figures! These are so fun to color because instead of everyone being super sculpey beige all the time, or mixing beige and brown/white to create different skin tones, I can do it easily with paint on these bisque clay figures which are made with white low fire clay. The more coats of brown "water" the darker they get, its so much fun, the way the paint goes on is like creating a water color painting.

Below check out the little boy I made holding a daisy.

Below, a nude female figure holding red roses.(shes currently for auction on Ebay)

This figure is actually holding tiny potted lilies.

I saved the best for last! This girls hat/hair thing is crazy! Its spiraling all around her head, and then has a separate spun circle attached near the front! Its awesome, more hats and masks for future figures me thinks! So she is holding an attractive array of miniature flowers including calla lilies.its important for me to include a photo of them in my hands sometimes because they appear clear in the photos and sometimes HUGE, when in fact these in particular are little itty bitys which are extremely charming.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tiny ladies holding miniature clay flowers, oh my!Haha, they don't call me the King of Kitsch for nothing!You really didn't think that the figures of the past five days would really go on forever did you? hahaha. THEY'RE BAAAAACK!

The little figures which I have created since the street vending days have found a way to express themselves in the ceramic medium. Kitsch, maybe, schlocky? Perhaps. I still say I'm a folk artist working in a naïve style with naïve subject matter; oops I meant lighthearted. Haha, I embrace all the labels, "low art" is the new thing! I love em! Little ladies with clay flowers, the perfect fusion of the differing art materials which are oil-based (really plastic-based), clay, and the original clay: the water based ceramic material clay. Here we have the ceramic figure, painted, then adorned with cold porcelain and polymer clay flowers, success! It actually solves many problems that I had before which were, I wanted loose figures, but they were too brittle, and also that I want detiled flowers but boy is that difficult in ceramic since the clay keeps drying out before you can finish! Best of both worlds here baby, schlocky or not!

I made this figure the day after making the ode to Fannie one when I said I promised the next figure would have hands, this girl does have a hand and a foot, she is very "left sided" with her head primarily cocked to that side and also having her hand/foot on that side, the right is very natural and tree-like. I remember making this figure after a long day at work, I was in a nice calm state of mind and I really wanted to just alter the figure into a strange composition like I had never done before. She appeared somewhat twisted, somewhat beautiful and somewhat bulky and heavy. The yellow and glaze really brought the figure to new heights for me and I think she is gorgeous. Lookout for more exaggeration of natural elements on these humanoids.

Monday, September 26, 2011

I made a dude yall'Here is a little guy I made, actually pretty bulky and heavy compared to the last few figures, he has a stocky, bulky, muscular torso with eloooongated legs and calfs. His proportions are all over the place and his detail is crude and simplified/primitive. I love it!Next time I want to have a group of butterflies flying up the figure, following the line that begins at the foot and takes you up in a zig-zag to the top of his head where a cluster of crowing butterflies will be sitting, the figure will be kept white as he is but the butterflies will be all colors and mixes of colors... its gonna be amazing!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

I think minifigure is about to get a makeover, after creating the figure below I felt like although I want to return to ebay to sell some of the bigger sculptures, that etsy is a great place to sell miniature figurines, I might have works on both websites, but I have had great success selling any small figure I made on etsy. I just have been very lazy, my shop has had zero items in it for months!

All that may change after making this scultpure. She was fresh out of the kiln from her bisque firing when I heard Marshall listening to a guided meditation, the meditation described you standing between the earth and the sun, and the blue energy of the earth, and the yellow energy of the sun flowing inside of you and healing your being... I thought this was so cool that I immediately painted her with yellow and blue and then wrote HEAL on her chest!

A healing figure! I love healing and health and will make more of these, perhaps with arms to the side so that they can be carried with you safely wherever you go!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Oh boy, I will be making a ton more of these. Why? Because they are awesome, and every woman will want one whether they are trying to get pregnant or NOT, whether they are moms or NOT... being fertile is beautiful.

So I like this one and all, but the next one I want to be smaller, actually about half the length, and to have a more teardrop shape to her, I want her to have much wider hips and more rudimentary arms and legs... like literally tiny venus' of willendorf. This one is cool though for now.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Who is Fannie Earls? Fanny May Butler Cloisse Earls?Haha, thats grams and this one is for her!It may not "look" like gramma, but to me it embodies everything that was this woman to me.Strong, Brown, Religious, Close to Nature/Nurturing, and extremely FERTILE!The figure is a plant-Daphne, a combination of plant-people parts, she has roots instead of legs, and branches instead of arms. She is very very very pregnant, totally bulbous and her breasts are full.

Though it may be a romanticization of the years in Suffolk with ducks, geese, chickens, and peep peep, Grams was close to nature, she dug out that goose pond every year and also had that little strawberry patch under her bathroom window, not to mention saving the Inpatients every year by covering with mulch and plastic garbage bags.

The religious nature of the woman is indicated by a nest with three white eggs in it. This is a symbol of the holy trinity which represents the father, the son, and the holy spirit all of whom Grams strongly believed in. (When I allude to the trinity in my other works, it is for other reasons, namely the existence of the holy spirit which I choose to focus on.)

Grams was definitely fertile, I really dont know how many times she got pregnant and gave birth, but I do know that six boys, and six girls made it to adulthood (except mabe bubba), that's twelve kids! Now you tell me about fertility!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Another work of art dedicated to the debilitating autoimmune disease scleroderma.One might think it strange to dedicate a work of art to the illness itself and not to say... my mother, but Its a personal narrative and the condition deserves respect and reverence as it is a force to be reckoned with. It is also my acceptance of it, not glorification.

And so as the figure hold her stone hands near her face, I just want to wisper to her, "its okay to show your hands."

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

cute eh?They are not really a family, but three works that I recently made... really four works, the little person on the guys shoulder was so tiny that I decided to add him to the composition, as a reminder that he deserves to be praised.The woman and the cherub guy are going to be ceramic flower holders. Thats right, I will be adding polymer clay and cold porcelain flowers to those by placing them in their hands after they are fired... they will probably remain plain bisqued but I will experiment with glazing in the future. I cant wait, this is going to be interesting... I could even paint with acrylics if I want... the possibilities are endless, there are no rules!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hope none of my friends think I took them off my list, but really, who cares! Today I said bye bye to facebook, my account will be permanently deleted trust I stay away for fourteen days... and while I was at it I deleted myspace (which I hadnt used anyway). It feels good, and now I can update my bloggy blog blog every single day since I have freed up so much time, time previously spent checking out status updates and hot profiles on facebook.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Chirp is just a little chirp chirp chirp and just is so chirpy I cant stand it... I may make more of these in the future to be affirmation figures but im not sure yet... each might have a word on it like prosperity, success, hope, etc.

Below is my little man with the big dong, finally prob done for, if you recall he was just a glaze test piece, but I really think he might help someone trying to get pregnant, so I shall keep him. I plan on making a partner for him or a sidekick rather, the feminine side... a little venus of willendorf figure which will be a rotund little pendant-like figure that you can keep in your pocket for fertility success!

Much could be said about this or nothing at all.The figure is interesting, the pose invites you to walk around it and see whats going on, she looks content, serious, and yet at some angles angry or upset... is this Avril Lavigne? no, is she just a pissed off spaghetti head? maybe.

I really like this work, even with its lack o hands which bothers me since the time was taken to create toes then why not fingers, right? I will have to get into doing hands, I have been shying away since I cannot roll out the fingers like in polymer, AND it dries out so fast, I would have to do hands last.

I wonder how people successfully photograph black ceramic works of art, they are BEAUTIFUL and shiny, but the only way I know to help is by putting the work on a background darker than it is, as this offsets the white balance of a digital camera, but I wonder how the professionals do it cause I cant seem to get it right.